Cologne vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Cologne	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1990	$2844
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4775	$6700
🏠 One person rent	$1083	$1749
🏘️ Family rent	$1841	$3002
🍽️ Food expenses	$556	$597
🚐 Transport expenses	$204	$337
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3654	$4145
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	92	99
😀 Quality of life	96	98
🏙️ Population	1.09M	5.45M

The cost of living in Cologne is 30% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 2067th and 348th ($1990 vs $2844) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 12th and 1st in Germany and Australia, respectively. Check Germany vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.8 months in Cologne compared to 1.5 months in Sydney. Cologne ranked 1st best city to live in Germany vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 15th and 2nd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/cologne/sydney.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Cologne vs Sydney infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/cologne/sydney" target="_blank">Cologne vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Cologne vs Sydney

Prices for goods and services in Cologne and Sydney are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Cologne	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$16.4	$15.8
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$79.3	$79.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.5	$11.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.6	$7.36
☕ Cappuccino	$4.15	$3.85
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.78	$2.82
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1084	$2123
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$844	$1437
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1926	$3835
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1474	$2492
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$151	$123
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$236	$190
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$39.8	$51.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.8%	6.09%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$7562	$13218
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5093	$7866
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$4.03	$3.77
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$68.3	$118
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$25.8	$20.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.03	$1.37
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.39	$1.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.19	$2.46
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.03	$2.13
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.3	$5.78
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.8	$13.9
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.7	$9.78
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.9	$15.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.26	$3.56
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.1	$3.1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.25	$3.24
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.5	$4.66
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$2.86
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$2.53
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.79	$0.82
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.41	$2.8
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.37	$15.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.12	$4.69
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.33	$24.9
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.13	$9.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.66	$4.93
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.8	$3.1
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.92	$3.03
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$42.1	$63.4
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.6	$16.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$57	$70.3
💇 Haircut, simple	$20	$21.7
👖 Brand Jeans	$97	$80.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$113	$111
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$897	$2281
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$22470	$21946

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1745
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$2007
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1746
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1728
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1743
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1734
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1757
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1740
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1711
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1739
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1722
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1694
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1724
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1731
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1701
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1689
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1759
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1700
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1686
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1708
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1663
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1738
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1908
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1673
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1663
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1661
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1629
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1640
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1671
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1670
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1665
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1609
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1661
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1601
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1674
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1668
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1620
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1653
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1676
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1944

Cities near Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2379
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2482
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$2050
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1710
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1695
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1997
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1699
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1821
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1477
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2223
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1867
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1796
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1288
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1583
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$2172
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1824
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1815
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2703
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1979
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2528
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2352
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1896
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1860
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1487
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1766
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1894
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1813
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1798
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1829
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2496
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1928
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1889
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1906
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2269
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1822
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1854
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1988
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2217
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1604
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1864